Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Deputy Speaker. The point I'm raising is that you cannot trust anything that comes out of the opposition's mouth. In fact, on this particular bill, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Cost of Living Tax Cuts) Bill 2024, they said no to it before they knew what the legislation was. You heard the member for Wright talk about this Robin Hood tax where you look after some but not others. The only people who are being impacted by this in a negative way are the high-income earners. So, if you listen to that lot over there, they are quite happy for most taxpayers not to get a tax cut as long as they get theirs. They want their $9,000 tax cut, but they don't care about people on low and middle incomes. They don't care about tradies, nurses or shop assistants, people who are working every single day and struggling with the cost of living. It doesn't matter if you're on two hundred and something thousand dollars over there or you're out working in a shop earning $40,000 a year; you still pay the same for petrol, milk and bread. But it's a bigger impact on people on low incomes than it is for that lot over there.

But, of course, they don't want to talk about that. They just sit there and say: 'No, we're opposing this. We're not going to stand up for it.' The Deputy Leader of the Opposition said straight out: 'No, we are going to reverse this or cut it back. We want stage 3 back.' Well, we're proud that we don't want stage 3 back. We're proud to say that we're standing up for Australian workers. Low- and middle-income earners who are doing it tough need help, and now they're got a government that's on their side, a government that's actually working to fix the mess left to us.

We hear about the increases in mortgage repayments. That started under those opposite. The things they left in place created that mess, and we have tried to turn it around. They talk about stage 2 tax cuts as if that was the greatest thing since sliced bread. But what they neglect to say is that when they were in government they set up that that tax expired—a $1,500 hit to workers that they sit there and try to run through for an election, and then it expired after the election. It was their hand grenade that they left that put extra pressure on people. But they don't mention that, because there's never been a worker they have stood up for. They voted against our putting measures in place to lower electricity prices. They said no. They voted against Medicare. They voted against cheaper medicines. They voted against making sure we have minimum standards for workers. Every single time there is something to help Australian taxpayers, the leftover rump of the conservative party are there to say no. But by gee, get in front of their tax cut and they're quick to really arc up. It is absolutely wrong. It is absolutely appalling that they do that.

Right across our communities in McEwen we've been doing it hard. Prices are going up, things are costing more and bills are getting higher—because of decisions the coalition made in government. We can't get to see doctors. But it's our government that addressed it. You can shake your head—and we get that little rattling sound—all you want. But the fact of the matter is this. The former government took away the District of Workforce Shortage, which has meant we can't get doctors in our communities. Why would you do that to a rural or regional area? That would be the question to ask, but you never get an answer.

But, thankfully, a government came in that stands up for people and looks after communities and changed that—and changed that very quickly—to help address that shortage, a shortage those opposite didn't care about. As long as their seats were comfortable they didn't care. They do not show any interest in supporting the 13.5 million Australian workers who are going to get a tax cut at a time of an economic crisis. This is why we have done things such as increasing the Medicare threshold. We've done that so that people on low incomes won't be paying that, but they'll still get that great Medicare that Labor stands up and believes in, the Medicare that we have fought for for 40 years, to make sure it's there and to make sure people can get health care where they need it and when they need it.

Think about the average person in the community who's on a $73,000 wage. They're going to be nearly $1,000 better off than they would have been under the previous government. People who are on $50,000 are going to be a lot better off, because that side had said no to them. Those opposite had said that they shouldn't get a tax-cut, that if you're on a low to middle income you don't deserve a tax cut, according to the opposition, the rump of the Morrison-Turnbull-Abbott mess that we had during those nine years. They sit there and say we must have high-income tax cuts, that people need them. They forget that 90 per cent of women taxpayers, nearly six million, are going to be better off than they would have been if a conservative government was in power now.

We on this side of the House know that 90 per cent of women are better off under the Albanese Labor government, because we have a strong government that actually thinks about people in all the different sectors. Those opposite might call it a Robin Hood tax. We call it a fairer distribution. If you're on $200,000 or $300,000, I'd question whether you're in trouble and needing a taxation cut of $10,000. But I know that when you're on $50,000 and you're doing it hard you need as much help as you can get. It's got to be done in a fair and reasonable way that does not put pressure on inflation, and that's what we've done, right across the things we've been doing, through Medicare, through child care, through cheaper prescriptions—all these things that government can work on without putting on inflationary pressure.

Remember how the former government came in here with all that bravado and gusto and called workers 'leaners'—we had this 'lifters and leaners' type of thing. The first promise they made that they broke was that they would deliver a budget surplus in their first year in government and each and every year after that. How many did they deliver? Zero. In fact, when they left office we had the highest debt and deficit in this nation's history. The two highest taxing Australian governments in history were Howard's and Morrison's. Yet they sit there and they feign this, 'We are the party of lower taxes'—lower taxes for the high end, but expecting the bottom end to pick that up and carry it.

The real lifters are the people who get out there and work every day and work very hard. A lot of people don't get paid a lot of money for good work. The real leaners are sitting over there. They're the ones that sit there and do nothing and expect everyone else to carry the can for them. Why did they oppose these tax cuts? Why did they say that these tax cuts were wrong before they'd even seen them?

They put stage 3 in six years ago. As an education for those that weren't here at that time, we fought against stage 3. But because of the pig-headedness and arrogance of former prime minister Morrison, they refused to split the bill. We supported stages 1 and 2. We wanted people on low and middle income—

An opposition member interjecting—

You can laugh. You might think it's funny that we stood up for low- and middle-income earners. But you, being the opposition, wouldn't allow that to happen. You were holding low- and middle-income earners' tax cuts as a weapon if we didn't give high-income earners tax cuts. That's just the model of thinking you get in today's Liberal Party. I'm not a big fan of Robert Gordon Menzies, but he would turn in his grave if he saw the way the Liberal Party has become nothing but a cheaper version of One Nation. That's what we've seen. The days of true Liberals have gone. We see that sitting here in the chamber. Every moderate-seat member is gone and replaced by someone who actually does care about things that matter. It's like the anti-corruption commission they promised. I'm looking forward to the members opposite getting up and saying, 'Well, we didn't deliver it.' Why? Some people think probably because there'd be a big queue of them going in front of it. But they never delivered that. Why? Another broken promise.

What you will always get with this Labor Party, this government and this Prime Minister is people that are out there trying to help workers and families. We want to do this because we know people are doing it hard and because it's ingrained in us to stand and say, 'We've got to help people who need the help when they need it.' It means that we don't get as big a tax cut as we might have got. So what? I am much happier to know that money that is coming out of government receipts is going into helping people who need the help the most. It's not just the fair thing to do; it's the right thing to do. In fact, you'd sit there and you'd say, 'It's the moral thing to do to make sure we help people when they need it and where they need it.'

We've had the contradiction of those opposite saying: 'Fifteen dollars a week is not enough. It's rubbish.' But then they don't want to give any money at all. So $15 is not enough, but under their plan it would be nothing. I tell you what: there are many people out there for whom $15 a week makes a huge difference. The member opposite is laughing. That's just what we get with this conservative opposition. They think it's funny. I can tell you that all of our organisations out their helping people with food banks and support are getting more and more people. In fact, some groups are actually getting people who used to help them but who are now coming in to get support because they need it.

Imagine if we still had a conservative government. This would be a lot worse and a lot harder. It's time those opposite started, just for once, to stand up for low- and middle-income earners instead of standing on them and using them to prop things up. Actually go and help them. Nothing those opposite did in their nine years of power did anything to help this nation set things up for now or for the future. Everything that was done under that government was wrong. They focused purely on themselves and re-election.

We changed our mind. We had to, because economic circumstances have changed. We don't shy away from that. We know because we go out and listen. That's what we do. I challenge those opposite to go out and listen to communities. Go out and talk to people who are earning low and middle incomes. Go out and talk to them about what life is like and what's really happening. I do every day, and it's so important that people on low incomes have people in this place to stand up for them.

That's why we did the closing loopholes legislation. Again, it's about protecting workers and making sure that people aren't being exploited, because that's one of the great problems we have in this country. A handful of bad employers will exploit workers, and it needs to stop. We also need to make sure that this place and the other place work together to make sure that we get the best value and the best outcome for taxpayer dollars and focus on people who need it the most. We have to stop what we had for nine years, with those opposite being focused on themselves. We need to get out and actually focus on people who need the help and support. That was a government, under those across there, that voted against increasing pensions and voted against increasing wages for aged-care workers. Enough is enough. It takes an Albanese Labor government to— (Time expired)

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